The Sudan-Contested National Identities

by Ann Mosely Lesch

Overview

"This highly informative work digs into the intricate history of Sudanese politics. Lesch brings a welcome clarity to Sudan's tangle of political, ethnic, and religious problems by concentrating on the country's central dilemma: the inability of its leaders to negotiate a common definition of nationhood." —Foreign Affairs

" . . . the first correct account of what took place . . . after independence." —Robert O. Collins

The Sudan is torn by ethnic and religious conflict, centered on the struggle over the definition of the Sudanese nation-state. Is the Sudan primarily Arab or African by culture and ethnicity? Should the political system privilege Islamic legal codes or accord equal citizenship to persons of all faiths? Ann Mosely Lesch provides a comprehensive and even-handed analysis of the unresolved struggle for a stable political system and a unified national identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253212276
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	04/22/1999
Series:	Middle East Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ann Mosely Lesch is Professor of Political Science at Villanova University, coauthor (with Mark Tessler) of Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinians, and principal author of Transition to Palestinian Self-Government: Practical Steps toward Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

Table of Contents

Part I Background and Context

Chapter 1 The Problem of National Identity
Chapter 2 Historical Legacies
Chapter 3 The Contradictory Policies of Numairi, 1969-1985

Part II Democratic Period, 1985-1989

Chapter 4 The Transition to Democracy
Chapter 5 Polarization during the Parliamentary Period
Chapter 6 Efforts to Resolve the Civil War

Part II Polarization under the Islamist government

Chapter 7 The Evolving Political System
Chapter 8 Indoctrination and Control
Chapter 9 Fragmented Opposition
Chapter 10 The Impasse in Negotiations
Chapter 11 Emerging Consensus within the Opposition Movement
Chapter 12 Conclusion

Appendix: The Changing Composition of Governments
Notes
Bibliography
Index